If you like what you read here, sign up to get this free weekly e-newsletter and learn the latest on our work.

A Powerful Resistance to Trump's Push for Offshore Drilling

What an amazing week. Thousands of people turned out to events around the country to raise their voices against President Trump's plan to dramatically expand offshore drilling in the Arctic, off the West Coast and East Coast, and in the Gulf of Mexico.

Thank you to all who came to hearings, attended rallies or provided support. The Center for Biological Diversity, including our coast-to-coast Ignite Change network, has made this campaign a top priority. We know Trump's plan could trigger more than 5,000 oil spills — we can't let that happen.

At least 197 environmental activists died in 2017, an average of nearly four per week, The Revelator reports. Brazil, Colombia, the Philippines and Mexico were the deadliest places for those working to protect wildlife and wildlands. One of the most infamous cases was the January 2017 murder of Isidro Baldenegro Lopez, an indigenous activist standing up against illegal logging.

This year is already off to a sad start: Three Cambodian rangers and law-enforcement officers were killed last week after finding an illegal logging camp. And just this weekend, Esmond Bradley Martin, an investigator in the illegal ivory trade, was murdered in his home in Kenya.

Trump's State Department missed its deadline to produce the U.S. Climate Action Report for the United Nations — so now Secretary of State Rex Tillerson faces a Center notice of intent to sue.

"The United States is the chief culprit in the climate crisis, so its refusal to meet even bare-minimum reporting requirements to the UN is morally reprehensible," said the Center's Jean Su. "In light of all the American lives and homes lost to superstorms and wildfires last year, the Trump administration's inaction is especially disturbing." Read more.

This year the United States could experience its first bird extinction in more than three decades. Once common across the grasslands of central Florida, the Florida grasshopper sparrow has experienced a catastrophic decline since the 1970s, mostly due to habitat loss and degradation. A 2017 survey found just 75 birds in the wild.

A sudden, drastic change in the structure of oil and gas leasing on public lands occurred last week when Trump's Bureau of Land Management issued a policy aiming to eliminate public review and disclosure of environmental harms from drilling and fracking. The BLM will also be largely restricted from taking land off the auction block — even when that land contains sensitive resources and habitat for wildlife like sage grouse.

"The Trump administration wants to give fossil fuel companies free rein over our public lands," said the Center's Michael Saul. "These changes will result in rushed, illegal decisions that will be overturned in court."

The Center's Dr. Nathan Donley recently fielded this question on our Medium page: "I've read that Roundup weedkiller is safer than table salt, but I've also heard it can cause cancer. Clearly both of these can't be right, so can you explain the discrepancy?"

How much do we pay for access to our public lands? It depends. If you're a livestock operator, then you haven't been paying much to graze your cows or sheep on public lands — and on top of that, the Trump administration just gave you a big cut in fees.

If you love visiting national parks, you may soon be paying more for the privilege. Trump's Interior Department is considering an increase in entrance fees for 17 of the most popular national parks, and vehicle fees could more than double.

"It's shameful that Trump wants to drastically increase national park fees while gouging taxpayers to subsidize livestock grazing," said the Center's Randi Spivak.

The Center doesn't save wildlife alone. This work also relies on people like you taking action — including signing petitions and sending letters.

This week we added a new feature to make it easier to take action and donate online. When you click on an action — you can find plenty of them here — you'll see a box for "FastAction." Fill out that secure form once and each time you take action in the future, your information will be automatically filled in, no need to fill out the full form.

Wild & Weird: Just a Snowy Owl Chilling on an Ice Floe

Recent footage captured in Canada shows a snowy owl — seemingly in a state of total relaxation — perched atop a chunk of ice bobbing in an ice floe in a bay of Lake Ontario. Check it out on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.